Chapter 2

That day, like any other, Ethan woke up late. He had the servants make breakfast for him, which he ate alone in the courtyard. The surroundings were immaculately designed and there was a colourful and fragrant garden expertly groomed. The architecture of the buildings in Moriah was similar to Khmer designs of the past, with sculptures and intricate carvings throughout. The Levi manor followed suit, but the beauty of their manor was a step above most places in Hamlan.

As he sat there, he was thinking of Jocelyn, the lord's daughter whom he fancied. He and his friends had a habit of competing for girls around town. After having numerous commoners and the spoiled daughters of rich families, they had set their sights on the one girl none of them had been able to acquire.

As he was daydreaming away, he heard a shout from the entrance to their manor.

…

"Oi, If you don't get out of the way, don't blame me for what I'll do!" shouted a heavily muscled man wearing plate armour pointing a sword at the guards

Outside the entrance, a group of 18 men armed to the teeth wearing the same armour standing off against the Levi family guards. There were only three men standing guard by the gate, and five would usually be inside the manor. Though the guards were loyal, they didn't have enough training to stand strong in such a situation and it was clear they wouldn't hold on for long.

"WA-Wai-wait just wait. We can't just let you barge in. What do you want to do? " Said a young guard trying to take charge

"You know where I'm from. You don't deserve to ask anything of the city lord's people. Now shut up and move or else! " replied the muscular man again.

"Look Le--"

Before the guard could finish his response, the muscular man yelled out.

"Kill!"

The looks on the guards' faces changed at that moment as the city lord's people advanced; they tried to defend themselves, but the attacking group were clearly experienced and had no hesitation.

The city lords' men split off and two attacked each guard as the rest followed the muscular men into the manor. The young guard who had been speaking earlier was quick to react and raised his sword to defend against a slash from one of the onrushing attackers, but as his sword met the attacker's weapon another sword came towards his stomach and slid through like a hot knife through butter.

He stopped and looked at the sword in his stomach, and he heard a scoff

"Idiot, you should have listened to the captain. We even tried to give you a chance."

He looked up to see where the voice came from and saw a woman who looked to be in her thirties holding the sword that was inside him wearing a disgusting smirk. She raised her foot and kicked the young guard away and looked around to see that the other guards were already dead, and followed the others into the manor.

Inside the manor, the remaining guards had either been killed already or they had run away. The attackers didn't bother with them and were going through the large manor.

Ethan had run inside the house to see what was going on after hearing the shout from outside. As he walked into the family room from outside, he saw his father rushing down the stairs with a flustered look on his face.

Ethan was shocked, as he'd never seen his father in such a state. His father had always been the calm and collected businessman who, no matter what was at stake, had the same apathetic look on his face.

Worried, Ethan called out to him.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

Without stopping, his father replied

"Where are your mother and sister!? We need to leave now!"

Confused by the whole situation, Ethan didn't have a chance to even try to remember where the rest of his family was. Seeing that he was confused, his father grabbed him and ran towards the other side of the manor. Even though he was rushing, he tried to explain things to his son.

"Something is going on with the city guards. I just saw them kill Thomas outside and others are coming inside the house."

Seemingly conscious of the fact that the city guards were now entering the house, Ethan's father had already lowered his voice to buy themselves a bit of time.

Ethan was shocked even further, but just followed his father while trying to make sense of everything.

As they reached the study, the door opened and Ethan's mother was coming out with a concerned look on her face when she noticed her husband and son. The sounds of occasional fighting could already be heard coming from somewhere inside the manor.

"Silas, what's going on? Who is fighting?"

She called out worriedly, with Ethan's sister popping up right behind her.

"Darling, I'm not sure, but the city guards a-"

Before he could finish, a city guard appeared from further down the corridor and shouted out.

"Captain, I've found them! They are down here!"

Seeing this, Silas pulled his daughter and wife out of the study and yelled

"Let's go"

The family took off towards the courtyard and even though not much time had passed, the city guards kept showing up around them giving chase.

As they crossed the boundary between the house and courtyard, Silas slapped towards a sculpture that activated some mechanism that revealed a hidden entrance in the middle of the courtyard. At that moment a whoosh could barely be heard because of the sound of the mechanism, and in front of Silas, Ethan fell. An arrow had struck him in the chest and fortunately, Silas was able to grab him and kept running.

Before long the sound of more bows being released could be heard and Sylvia also fell, as they had struck her in the thigh. Silas hesitated for a split second, but Sylvia yelled out.

"Go! Save the children!"

Knowing he couldn't save both his wife and his son, Silas kept going but noticed Sophia had stopped by her mother and fallen behind, trying to help her.

By the time Silas noticed, the guards were already by Sylvia and Sophia. He forced himself to keep going so at least he could ensure someone got out.

"Silas stop! Otherwise, you'll force my hand"

The muscular man from before had finally shown up. Upon hearing the voice, Silas looked back and stopped just as he had arrived by the entrance of the secret underground passage that had opened up.

When Silas looked at the muscular man, recognition flashed in his eyes, and it could be seen that he knew the man.

"Barnabas, what are you doing? Do you know what will happen once the Lord finds out about this?"

Silas spat out the questions with a look of anger on his face, shielding Ethan from the city guards who were still aiming at them.

"Hahaha, unlike you, I know my place. Instead of resisting you should have come quietly but look at what you've done to your family."

After saying this, Barnabas picked up Sylvia by the rear of her neck. He turned her, so she faced Silas. She was scared but tried to remain strong for her children.

Watching this occur, Silas got more and more enraged.

"What have I done!? I've always been loyal to the king! I pay my taxes! I've crossed no one from the lord's residence. Fuck, my son even serves Mayer! What else do you want from me!?"

Silas was already worn from seeing his family in such a condition, but his anger gave him the strength to continue.

Barnabas just grinned, hearing all of this.

"Who gives a fuck if you pay taxes? Why should I care that your son works for us? Don't we pay him for that? The Lord wants your family at his residence, so that's where you are going. If you don't want to go then you will have to leave these cute playthings with us."

Saying this, Barnabas took out a blade from a sheath and licked it then went on to place it against Sylvia's neck. Sophia ran up to try to push him away, but Barnabas violently kicked her away.

"Sophie it's okay, don't worry, everything will be okay."

Seeing Sophia trying to get back up to rush Barnabas, Sylvia quickly stopped her and tried calming her down, even though she herself was worried. She knew she had to be strong.

Ethan was still behind his father, just watching, not sure what to do, but he could see his father shaking from rage with his hands clenched.

Silas stayed quiet, evaluating the situation in his head. He obviously knew Barnabas' character, and he was someone with a terrible reputation. Silas was unaware why the Lord wanted to see him, but after killing the guards and hurting his family like that, he knew it wasn't for anything good.

"Wait..."

Silas said this to Barnabas and then turned to Ethan.

"Ethan I'm sorry, I don't know what I did and knowing the city lord, the fact that he sent Barnabas means our family's fate won't be good. I will stay here with them, but I need you to leave with your sister. Go find your brother and tell him what happened. No matter what, your mother and I love you. Now and always."

While hearing all this, tears started flowing from Ethan. He still hadn't come to grips with everything, but he could already tell that he couldn't go back to how things were before. Ethan kept stealing glances at his mother and the man who had her. He could see his sister still lying in the dirt.

Silas turned back to Barnabas and demanded.

"Let my children go. Sylvia and I will go with you to see Mayer. There isn't a need to drag them along."

With that same look, Barnabas replied.

"I think you misunderstood. The lord said everyone should come along. Only the dead shall remain here today. Now I'm giving you to the count of 3"

Saying this, Barnabas tightened his grip and Sylvia looked in pain.

...1

Silas immediately panicked

"Okay, wait!!! Dammit, just wait!"

...2

"I'll do it, just stop, I'll do it."

The grin on Barnabas' face increased as he muttered

"Too late"

3

Then he did it

With little fuss, he slit her throat. In front of her children and her husband. Like it was nothing, he leisurely moved the knife and blood sprayed out onto the ground and Sophia. It was silent and the only sound was the gurgling coming from Sylvia.

No one moved

Not Silas, not Sophia, and definitely not Ethan. Even the other city guards seemed stumped for a moment, as though they didn't expect him to do it.

Without a change in expression, Barnabas let go of her neck and she fell to the ground with a thump, still facing Silas and Ethan.

Ethan couldn't hear anything for some reason after that. Barnabas signalled his men to move towards them, which they did, while some grabbed his sister who was just as catatonic and his father had roared to the sky in a matter of seconds, but Ethan did not notice anything.

He just looked into his mother's still beautiful eyes and she looked back at him.

That was his mother.

His mother was dead.

Just like that.

He could never tell her how much he loved her again. They wouldn't be able to fight again. She would never be able to play with her grandchildren like she always wanted.

While Ethan was losing himself, his father shook him and shouted into his face.

"Run, Ethan run!"

His father pushed him into the passage and mechanically, without even thinking, Ethan just ran. He never looked back; he just kept on running.

The passageway was clean and well lit as though it had been maintained often. There were flaming torches placed periodically on the wall, providing light throughout the tunnel. The design was similar to the rest of their manor and it was wide enough to fit 8 people standing side to side.

After some time of moving through the passage, Ethan heard water flowing. The passage was not straight and twisted and turned throughout.

Ethan eventually reached a three-way crossing, with an intense stream running along the two routes he could take. When he stopped, he heard footsteps quickly approaching behind him.